mytaxi change in terms 5 Euro cancellation fee

Marcusm · 09-05-2019 10:18pm

iamtony wrote: »

if drivers constantly cancel they get barred off the mytaxi system. For drivers accepting jobs while on jobs that is a practise they shouldn't engage in and you should report it in the app.
Sometimes traffic changes after a driver has accepted your booking like a protest (more common than you think) of a collision and it's not the fault of the driver if he can't make it exactly on the time the app told you. Sometimes that is why drivers cancel, and I've genuinely done it with the good of the customer in mind. If I'm stuck somewhere and I think they have a better chance of getting a closer car then I will let it go.

That should not be your choice based on your assumption though. Either suffer the same penalty as the punter or offer a free cancellation for agreement by the punter.

Marcusm · 09-05-2019 10:19pm

iamtony wrote: »

Jasus that's harsh, and I'm not saying there aren't scumbag drivers but I doubt many would be thinking like that for a minute worth of running the meter.
I personally will press the arrived button when I'm really near and I'm always their before the passenger but never have I used it like that. I'd give the passenger a few minutes before I think about starting the meter.

Why should you press arrive before you’re at the precise spot?

ted1 · 09-05-2019 10:22pm

BailMeOut wrote: »

says "If you decide to cancel your order for a taxi 2 or more minutes after the taxi driver accepted your order, you will be charged a €5 Cancellation Fee."

so if you can cancel less than 2 mins after driver accepts you would not be charged.

And after ten minutes when the taxi cancels nothing happens to him.

magicbastarder · 09-05-2019 10:28pm

iamtony wrote: »

First sentence was about you saying the majority of traffic is taxis. If that were true, the traffic in the bus lanes should he worse than in the normal lane.

i have been on buses which have taken longer getting down camden street/georges street at 11pm than they take at 5pm, and the reason was the roads were choked with taxis.
taxis need more regulation. i would asssume that measures which would reduce the prevalence of part time taxi drivers would be welcomed by full time drivers?

Hurrache · 09-05-2019 10:41pm

Georges, Camden and onto Wexford Street are just ridiculousl alright, worse than rush hour.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 10:47pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

i have been on buses which have taken longer getting down camden street/georges street at 11pm than they take at 5pm, and the reason was the roads were choked with taxis.
taxis need more regulation. i would asssume that measures which would reduce the prevalence of part time taxi drivers would be welcomed by full time drivers?

the Camden Street thing is am enforcement thing and the Garda are to blame for that one. It's down to one lane because of taxis parked on either side of the road. They need to put a stop to that but in fairness they also need to accommodate the amount of people who are looking for taxis their at that hour so they should repurpose one of the multistorey car parks at night or something to give it some order.
em. Touchy subject but personally I thing part time drivers are needed at the busy times. It allows the full time driver to do better during the weekdays. If there were more full time drivers it would effect me more if they were out more during the week when I was working compared to join at covering the hours when you find people walking home because of the lack of taxis.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 10:49pm

Marcusm wrote: »

Why should you press arrive before you’re at the precise spot?

by the time the passenger comes out I'm their. It just speeds things up a little. I'm talking pressing arrived when I'm 100 yards away.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 10:50pm

ted1 wrote: »

And after ten minutes when the taxi cancels nothing happens to him.

it should after that long I agree. Maybe not a financial penalty but not being able to receive a job for an hour would be a good start

iamtony · 09-05-2019 10:58pm

Hurrache wrote: »

Bizarre logic.

Not really, take the quays as a good example. If their were more taxis than private cars the bus lane would be backed up more than the normal lane. Sound reasonable to me. Theres about 10,000 taxis (which are needed) in Dublin roughly and about half a million private cars you can do the maths.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 10:59pm

This is like an AMA thread now I'm checking out soon:pac:

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:00pm

Phileas Frog wrote: »

Taxis are not confined to the bus lanes though...

No bit when they are available and less congested which they usually are because there's less of us we usually use them.

Hurrache · 09-05-2019 11:05pm

iamtony wrote: »

Not really, take the quays as a good example. If their were more taxis than private cars the bus lane would be backed up more than the normal lane. Sound reasonable to me. Theres about 10,000 taxis (which are needed) in Dublin roughly and about half a million private cars you can do the maths.

Taxi's aren't on rails, nor are they mandated to stay in the bus lanes. Once the bus lane gets busy, you spill over into the regular lane.

Your point that the bus lane would be busier than other lanes is meaningless and false.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:06pm

fullstop wrote: »

So taking people into consideration only works one way does it? **** the customer, it isn't costing them anything :rolleyes:

Closed my account with this shower a fair while back. about 75% of the taxis I booked on it cancelled, but sure I don't matter, it's not costing me an hour's pay.

I can only speak for myself but I personally go through great lengths to provide an excellent service and I always try my best to help out my passengers. When I take a booking I usually see it through even if that means driving by jobs which could be better if I stopped bit that's just me and I'm not saying there aren't drivers who look after themselves before the customer but I know there is consequences with mytaxi if they choose to do this. It's not financial but they do have measures in place.
Sometimes I ring my passengers and say I'm stuck in traffic and I'll be 20 minutes. I don't mind keep heading for you but if you want to cancel and try get a closer car I don't mind and stuff like that. I think most drivers are like me and we just get a bad name from a few bad eggs. Maybe I'm wrong but its like all walks of lifx there's good and there's bad.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:09pm

Hurrache wrote: »

Taxi's aren't on rails, nor are they mandated to stay in the bus lanes. Once the bus lane gets busy, you spill over into the regular lane.

Your point that the bus lane would be busier than other lanes is meaningless and false.

ok you win. We are the traffic problem in the city. Thanks for clearing that up.

Charles Babbage · 09-05-2019 11:17pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

i have been on buses which have taken longer getting down camden street/georges street at 11pm than they take at 5pm, and the reason was the roads were choked with taxis.
taxis need more regulation. i would asssume that measures which would reduce the prevalence of part time taxi drivers would be welcomed by full time drivers?

One contribution would be removing taxis without customers from bus lanes.

magicbastarder · 09-05-2019 11:20pm

Or removing taxis from bus Lanes. They are no more efficient at moving people around than the private cars which are not allowed use bus Lanes.

Spook_ie · 09-05-2019 11:27pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

Or removing taxis from bus Lanes. They are no more efficient at moving people around than the private cars which are not allowed use bus Lanes.

Beg to differ, a private car would be parking up at the end of a journey a taxi doesn't ( assuming) they either legally rank or begin plying for hire again.

Not to say that some drivers use the bus lane at all times even when not plying for hire, only way around that would be Garda checking but that would just cause congestion in itself as I would assume there are few places you could stop a taxi without compromising a bus route.

Bigmac1euro · 09-05-2019 11:29pm

Conchir wrote: »

I think the cancellation fee is going to take a lot of scrutiny away from the last change they're making. How do they decide what is a 'minor change'? Will app users be notified of minor changes, if they don't even have to accept them? Potential serious lack of transparency there, I'd almost be more wary of that than the cancellation fee.

That is absolutely nuts, i think all these latest changes are the final nails in the coffin for me. Good luck mytaxi, I hope the company genuinely crashes and burns.

Ripping the taxi drivers off on %
Non existent prebook system (starts hailing at collection Time)
Charging unfair cancellations now
Ruining a previously good app
And creating a dog eat dog game for the taxi drivers

I could go on, I won’t. I’m done with them.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:31pm

magicbastarder wrote: »

Or removing taxis from bus Lanes. They are no more efficient at moving people around than the private cars which are not allowed use bus Lanes.

Obviously buses are more efficient and better for the planet but taxis are way more efficient than private cars. They probably reduce the amount of cars on the streets of Dublin by 100 thousand daily. Sure these people would be better off in buses but it's not realistic. Especially economically, the productive time lost travelling for business users would cost the country a fortune.

Charles Babbage · 09-05-2019 11:33pm

Spook_ie wrote: »

Not to say that some drivers use the bus lane at all times even when not plying for hire, only way around that would be Garda checking but that would just cause congestion in itself as I would assume there are few places you could stop a taxi without compromising a bus route.

My suggestion is that taxis could only use a bus lane when an occupied light was lit, and this would only light when the meter was running, and the meter would form the basis of the return to the Revenue.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:37pm

Charles Babbage wrote: »

My suggestion is that taxis could only use a bus lane when an occupied light was lit, and this would only light when the meter was running, and the meter would form the basis of the return to the Revenue.

that would basically mean hailing a taxi on a street obsolete. Or would the passenger be obliged to walk across the bus lane to get into the car whole the driver holds up traffic? It would also make traffic in the cities worse.

Spook_ie · 09-05-2019 11:40pm

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

That is absolutely nuts, i think all these latest changes are the final nails in the coffin for me. Good luck mytaxi, I hope the company genuinely crashes and burns.

Ripping the taxi drivers off on %
Non existent prebook system (starts hailing at collection Time)
Charging unfair cancellations now
Ruining a previously good app
And creating a dog eat dog game for the taxi drivers

I could do on, I won’t. I’m done with them.

A) 12% isn't that bad, the €2 charge covers a good bit of it and you only effectively pay anything if the fare is above approx €15

Prebookings are passed out and accepted by driver's as soon as booked, fails because not enough drivers on shift, so any bookings not already accepted get offered out 30 mins from pre-booked time.

C) Might cut down on wasted journeys thereby helping point B by having taxis e-hailed and then not needed, note there has always been a charge for cancelling pre-booked taxis if cancelled less than 30 mins from pickup.

D) Yeah was a bit of a bollix but it's getting better, main problem seems to be if passenger takes phone out of pocket, presses hail and doesn't check if the app has had time to update their location.

E) Always has been dog eat dog

Bigmac1euro · 09-05-2019 11:41pm

Charles Babbage wrote: »

My suggestion is that taxis could only use a bus lane when an occupied light was lit, and this would only light when the meter was running, and the meter would form the basis of the return to the Revenue.

Yeah but what if your waiting on a taxi to collect you, surely it’s better they get to you quicker.

I agree that they shouldn’t hog the bus lanes all the time though.
Funnily enough I seen one today on amien street waiting in a que of traffic while the bus lane was empty and he had passengers in the back.

Spook_ie · 09-05-2019 11:49pm

Charles Babbage wrote: »

My suggestion is that taxis could only use a bus lane when an occupied light was lit, and this would only light when the meter was running, and the meter would form the basis of the return to the Revenue.

Think you mean unoccupied, I'd have no problem with that, only drawback would be going to a prebooking, but wouldn't be insurmountable as you should have a booking reference of some kind.

Mind you the only time I've had a meter go faulty is with the relay circuit for the light, choice of fix was €100 for meter and €90 for recalibration and reseal or €5 for a manual switch, guess which one won

Meter to revenue, again no problem just don't be expecting any discounts even if it were just the odd 20c

Bigmac1euro · 09-05-2019 11:49pm

Spook_ie wrote: »

A) 12% isn't that bad, the €2 charge covers a good bit of it and you only effectively pay anything if the fare is above approx €15

Prebookings are passed out and accepted by driver's as soon as booked, fails because not enough drivers on shift, so any bookings not already accepted get offered out 30 mins from pre-booked time.

C) Might cut down on wasted journeys thereby helping point B by having taxis e-hailed and then not needed, note there has always been a charge for cancelling pre-booked taxis if cancelled less than 30 mins from pickup.

D) Yeah was a bit of a bollix but it's getting better, main problem seems to be if passenger takes phone out of pocket, presses hail and doesn't check if the app has had time to update their location.

E) Always has been dog eat dog

A. Every taxi I get is in the 30-40 region

B. Pre-booking system kicked in at 6am one morning for me and then “couldn’t find a driver” I missed my train. I had prebooked the night before.

C. Mytaxi should continue to swallow the charge and it should be 2 or 3 euro rather than 5 (at least to begin with)

D. It’s seems to have gotten worse for me, takes 3 or 4 times the amount of time to actually get a taxi on it. Probably less drivers now on it because they are fed up.

E. I’m referring to the system as mentioned above where it gives the drivers a level of rating. Gold, silver, bronze. In terms of how long a job stays on their screen. It seems unfair and they are making a competitive game even more competitive. (I just don’t agree with it, maybe others do. Taxi drivers will have an opinion I’m sure, yourself ?)

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:53pm

I was just looking up the Uber cancellation fee and they are almost identical to what mytaxi is doing. The taxi company I used to work for also charge 10 euro cancellation fee. None of this is anything new and it's justified. Anyways im out for the night, nice chatting folks.

iamtony · 09-05-2019 11:58pm

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

A. Every taxi I get is in the 30-40 region

B. Pre-booking system kicked in at 6am one morning for me and then “couldn’t find a driver” I missed my train. I had prebooked the night before.

C. Mytaxi should continue to swallow the charge and it should be 2 or 3 euro rather than 5 (at least to begin with)

D. It’s seems to have gotten worse for me, takes 3 or 4 times the amount of time to actually get a taxi on it. Probably less drivers now on it because they are fed up.

E. I’m referring to the system as mentioned above where it gives the drivers a level of rating. Gold, silver, bronze. In terms of how long a job stays on their screen. It seems unfair and they are making a competitive game even more competitive. (I just don’t agree with it, maybe others do. Taxi drivers will have an opinion I’m sure, yourself ?)

The pre-book system didn't kick in. No drivers accepted your job till 6am it was live on all drivers screen. I'm guessing you live very close to the train station? Or it was a very short job anyway. Decent job are snatched off the driver screen very fast and this is where the gold, silver, bronze thing comes in. Gold drivers will see the pre-booked first, then silver etc

Bigmac1euro · 09-05-2019 11:59pm

Just looking at the app there. My last 7 trips are.

33 euro
31 euro
Driver cancelled
You cancelled
Driver cancelled
Driver cancelled
Driver cancelled.

Switched number recently so I only have 7 trips in the last 2 months and I rarely used mytaxi anyway because the app pissed me off.

Another thing they done was I got a taxi.
Fare was 28 euro.
Driver took payment confirmed. - Grand
Noticed money never came out of bank.
Mytaxi went in a day or 2 later to take the money and the money wasn’t there because of a DD went out. This pissed me off because my money is tight as saving for a house. The app is a joke. Rant over
Apologies.

Bigmac1euro · 10-05-2019 12:02am

iamtony wrote: »

The pre-book system didn't kick in. No drivers accepted your job till 6am it was live on all drivers screen. I'm guessing you live very close to the train station? Or it was a very short job anyway. Decent job are snatched off the driver screen very fast and this is where the gold, silver, bronze thing comes in. Gold drivers will see the pre-booked first, then silver etc

Blanch to Heuston i filled the destination out in the app as well - at the time the app told me your driver will be there to collect you, or something along those lines.
It’s brutal.

Spook_ie · 10-05-2019 12:04am

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

A. Every taxi I get is in the 30-40 region

B. Pre-booking system kicked in at 6am one morning for me and then “couldn’t find a driver” I missed my train. I had prebooked the night before.

C. Mytaxi should continue to swallow the charge and it should be 2 or 3 euro rather than 5 (at least to begin with)

D. It’s seems to have gotten worse for me, takes 3 or 4 times the amount of time to actually get a taxi on it. Probably less drivers now on it because they are fed up.

E. I’m referring to the system as mentioned above where it gives the drivers a level of rating. Gold, silver, bronze. In terms of how long a job stays on their screen. It seems unfair and they are making a competitive game even more competitive. (I just don’t agree with it, maybe others do. Taxi drivers will have an opinion I’m sure, yourself ?)

A) Those are the ones that MyTaxi make any profit on

Your booking from the night before would have been showing on the system since you booked, it would have gone URGENT with a priority bonus 30 mins before time, just no one took your job, driver's obviously prefer the jobs where they are likely to get a return job or have even found another prebooking in the first bookings destination area.

C) Why? You order a taxi and don't show you waste the driver's time when he could be picking up an urgent booking like your own.

D) Golden rule of taxi apps, if it's busy on the street, it's busy on the app not many are going to pay 12% if they can get a fare for 0%

E ) I've tried working it out, would seem to be a matter of seconds is the difference between the 4 levels, however, I have had occasions where the job offer has gone not to the nearest car but one much further out, been rejected as too long by the customer and then came to my car, the algorithm still seems to fall flat on its distance calculations.

iamtony · 10-05-2019 12:07am

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

Blanch to Heuston i filled the destination out in the app as well - at the time the app told me your driver will be there to collect you, or something along those lines.
It’s brutal.

Thats very strange. If I looked at the pre-booked screen right now all the jobs that drivers haven't already taken would be very short and not job you would commit to on advance and you would only take them if they were close and it was due in the next 15 minutes of so.
Unless you live in a really dodgy area I can't think of any reason a driver wouldn't accept that when you made the booking. Maybe you should contact mytaxi, something doesn't seem right their.

Bigmac1euro · 10-05-2019 12:11am

iamtony wrote: »

Thats very strange. If I looked at the pre-booked screen right now all the jobs that drivers haven't already taken would be very short and not job you would commit to on advance and you would only take them if they were close and it was due in the next 15 minutes of so.
Unless you live in a really dodgy area I can't think of any reason a driver wouldn't accept that when you made the booking. Maybe you should contact mytaxi, something doesn't seem right their.

I did at the time. This was literally just a few weeks after mytaxi went live so in fairness maybe teething issues but still it was a disaster for me. Areas not bad. I’d still rather use an app that supports the drivers and the customer better. I have an app called whistle that I used for a bit but it seems to not be very popular unless in the city centre.

Spook_ie · 10-05-2019 12:12am

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

Blanch to Heuston i filled the destination out in the app as well - at the time the app told me your driver will be there to collect you, or something along those lines.
It’s brutal.

At this exact moment there are 230 jobs on the prebooking screen varying from 02.50 Friday in D22 to 17.00 on Monday in D20, they'll whittle down over the next while

iamtony · 10-05-2019 12:20am

Bigmac1euro wrote: »

I did at the time. This was literally just a few weeks after mytaxi went live so in fairness maybe teething issues but still it was a disaster for me. Areas not bad. I’d still rather use an app that supports the drivers and the customer better. I have an app called whistle that I used for a bit but it seems to not be very popular unless in the city centre.

For the customer I don't think you can get much better than mytaxi. All the other taxi companies have apps now, just search their name in the app store. After mytaxi, lynk is probably next best. Flag is another option and that's Irish owned.

iamtony · 10-05-2019 12:22am

I'm going bed this time I swear:pac:

Spook_ie · 10-05-2019 12:49am

iamtony wrote: »

I'm going bed this time I swear:pac:

Hope you've taken a booking for tomorrow.

jimmycrackcorm · 10-05-2019 1:38am

The last mytaxi journey I booked, the duvet pulled up and as I went to get in he said he was just going to drop off the passenger sitting in the back.

I'd be really pissed off waiting if I cancelled and was penalised a fiver.

There should be no penalty of you cancel and then request another journey just after.

Spook_ie · 10-05-2019 4:38am

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

The last mytaxi journey I booked, the duvet pulled up and as I went to get in he said he was just going to drop off the passenger sitting in the back.

I'd be really pissed off waiting if I cancelled and was penalised a fiver.

There should be no penalty of you cancel and then request another journey just after.

To be honest you'd deserve to be charged imo, you would have engaged two drivers, the original driver isn't guaranteed to get the second call.

As to the driver (duvet?) showing up with previous fare on board, well in first instance it would be up to that fare if he wanted to share, in the second instance it would be up to you if you wanted to share and in the third instance he shouldn't be doing that anyway.

bigpink · 10-05-2019 4:52am

jimmycrackcorm wrote: »

The last mytaxi journey I booked, the duvet pulled up and as I went to get in he said he was just going to drop off the passenger sitting in the back.

I'd be really pissed off waiting if I cancelled and was penalised a fiver.

There should be no penalty of you cancel and then request another journey just after.

Welcome to the real world a taxi man before myrmtaxi willing to work and do the calls

bigpink · 10-05-2019 4:53am

Self centered snowflake generation

cherryghost · 10-05-2019 8:37am

I think a refundable deposit of 5 euro on a booking would make more sense, and let it swing both ways tbh.

KoolKid · 10-05-2019 8:47am

The recurring theme here seems to be customers cancel for no reason and drivers always have a good one. Traffic etc.
I have regularly seen the one where they are pulled up at shops or outside a house not moving for 10 minutes. Yet the app is telling you driver will be there in 2 minutes. If the customer is left waiting like this why should they be penalised for cancelling. Your would do the same in a shop or restaurant for bad service. I have seen on the map drivers cancelling when just around the corner with no traffic in sight.
Sure, it's both ways but let the penalty be also.
Listening to the driver reasons here I'd say it would be a headache for MyTaxi to ban a driver for cancelling jobs.
I prefer to use Uber or Lynk now. Much less issues with drivers cancelling.

Lord Nikon · 10-05-2019 9:56am

Sonny noggs wrote: »

Got caught with this on O’connell Street last week. Was at the Bank of Ireland looking to go to Grand Canal to make a meeting in time, app tells me the driver is 9 mins away, fair enough, i’ll wait . Yer man rings me 2 mins later and asks me to walk over to the GPO. Then meter on, and I’m charged as he makes his way around what seemed like half of Dublin and eventually drives me past where I started from ... didn’t say anything as it was on company account but still, taking the piss...

Only used mytaxi to save the hassle of having to pay and expense the fare.

It's about a nine minute drive(with some traffic) to O'Connell Street from Heuston Station(but he could have been somewhere else). Also, as you were at BOI, if he was coming down the quays, he asked you to cross over to save time. If he picked you up at the GPO, there is no quick U-turn, and he would have had to go up and around the Rotunda Hospital, and back down O'Connell Street anyway.
To be fair, you could have probably hailed a taxi on O'Connell Street, got to your meeting on time. But as you were expensing the fare, it cost you nothing, but it was the drivers fault he took the long way(which he probably didn't).

Seve OB · 10-05-2019 10:35am

As a customer so I have to register a credit card with my taxi before making a booking? Or how do they take the fiver?

cherryghost · 10-05-2019 10:55am

Seve OB wrote: »

As a customer so I have to register a credit card with my taxi before making a booking? Or how do they take the fiver?

If you are paying with credit card, they will charge you 5 eur. If you pay by cash, they will block your account until you pay up

downtheroad · 10-05-2019 11:02am

Email from MyTaxi. You will hear that all passengers will start to be charged a cancellation fee for cancelling on drivers after their driver has accepted and is en route to the passenger. While this charge will apply to everyone while hailing on their personal account, this charge will not be applied when you order using your mytaxi | business account.

1 rule for business customers and another for regular users.

Barna77 · 10-05-2019 11:34am

bonjurkes wrote: »

mytaxi claims they are closely watching for possible abuse of cancellation by drivers.

Maybe they should watch on drivers that charge one fee on the spot but then claim a different, lower, one on the app.

It has happened to me once or twice, always going to the airport. Lets say fare was €20, driver took the money (I pay cash) but then I got a receipt for €15. He even told me he was doing it to avoid paying whatever fee or commission the app charges them or the likes of it.

bonjurkes · 10-05-2019 12:05pm

Barna77 wrote: »

Maybe they should watch on drivers that charge one fee on the spot but then claim a different, lower, one on the app.

It has happened to me once or twice, always going to the airport. Lets say fare was €20, driver took the money (I pay cash) but then I got a receipt for €15. He even told me he was doing it to avoid paying whatever fee or commission the app charges them or the likes of it.

Well have you reported those drivers to mytaxi? Otherwise they wouldn't know which drivers do this practice.

I think mytaxi turns blind eye to drivers' faults as long as they don't try to rip off the company. Because as I can guess they are having hard time finding taxi drivers to use their app. And they definitely prefer having more drivers than customers, as their main income is from drivers.

mikemac2 · 10-05-2019 12:21pm

Ah in 2015 I predicted that Hailo would rule the market and wipe out radio firms

What do I know

Seve OB · 10-05-2019 1:05pm

mikemac2 wrote: »

Ah in 2015 I predicted that Hailo would rule the market and wipe out radio firms

What do I know

they will never wipe out call centres
there is still an awful lot of people want to ring a phone number to book their taxis.

mytaxi change in terms 5 Euro cancellation fee

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